Supreme Court Approves Government Application To Take Over Unitech
The court today approved a government application for taking over Unitech and appointing its nominees on the company’s board.
The Supreme Court today approved a government application for taking over Unitech Ltd. and appoint its nominees on the cash-strapped property developer’s board.
Attorney General KK Venugopal filed the application today with a top court bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud. He said the government proposes to appoint retired IAS officer YS Malik as the company’s chairman and managing director, adding that it doesn’t intend to infuse funds into any of Unitech’s housing projects.
The new board will assess projects that can be revived and will also decide on its resolution or whether it should be referred to bankruptcy proceedings, the attorney general said. The government also asked the court to grant immunity to the new board from various proceedings pending against the company in Indian courts.
This is the second time the government has moved an application for taking over the company. The other directors nominated by the government include former chief of NBCC (India) Ltd., Anoop Kumar Mittal, Renu Karnad, Niranjan Hiranandani, Jeetu Wadhwani and Girish Kumar Ahuja.
The takeover request comes after the top court had on Dec. 18, 2019, asked if it was willing to revisit its 2017 application, in which it had proposed to take over Unitech’s management.
Unitech was dragged to court by irate homeowners who shelled out payments for apartments that have yet to be completed and its founders jailed on charges of cheating. The company that had taken money from many buyers found its business plummeting on the back of slump affecting the real-estate sector.
The Supreme Court is also hearing a batch of petitions filed by aggrieved homebuyers who had approached the court seeking relief against the delay in delivery of homes purchased by them in Unitech’s projects.